The present invention relates to gloves, and, more particularly, to an athletic glove for enhancing athletic performance by providing compression and stabilization of the wrist and hand of the user.
Athletic gloves are worn for a wide variety of sports, including weight lifting, water skiing, windsurfing and racket sports. Such gloves assure a firm grip by providing a perspiration-free surface for gripping objects, thereby improving the user's performance. In sports such as sailing, the fingers of the glove have open ends to permit greater tactile sensitivity and mobility. Gloves also protect the hand from minor injuries, such as scrapes, bruises and blisters.
Wrist supports are worn to protect the wrist joint from serious injury and dislocation that may result from the extreme forces to which the wrist is subjected. In weight lifting, for example, lifters use elastic wraps which are sanctioned by the regulating authority. Wrist supports are used in tennis to keep the wrist locked during certain strokes. In baseball, a wrist support minimizes injury to a batter from sudden rotation of the wrist when the bat hits the ball.
Athletic gloves having wrist supports have been developed to provide some of the above advantages. However, the wrist supports of the prior art gloves typically have one elongated piece of material extending around the wrist portion of the glove which must be tightly wrapped around the user's wrist to be effective. These straps have several major disadvantages. They are difficult to secure tightly with one hand, and when secured, they provide only rotational support for the wrist and not flexional support for the wrist and hand together.